Level 0 Games
by felixiglesias8
Summary: Saten Ruiko's hobby of gossips and urban legends has evolved into the ability to do Sherlock Scans and predict crimes. Uiharu and the rest of their friends have no idea what they've gotten themselves into.
1. First Games

**First Games**

Summary: Saten Ruiko realizes that the convenience store in School Distrcit 15 that she and Uiharu Kazari are in is about to be held. The latter realizes that her best friend has an incredible gift.

(This new new Fanfiction of mine is set in a semi-AU where Saten's hobby of researching the Internet for gossips and urban legends as well as her natural athletic ability and sharp thinking has evolved into the ability to do Sherlock Scans and notice details that the majority of her world would overlook or dismiss. Her own moral code forces her to act when she sees something wrong happening and the boatload of psychological issues she's been carrying since the Level Upper incident have been twisted too, causing her to take dangerous risks and act self destructively at times. Inspired by Pale Rose Fire's Shadow Games)

* * *

"Uiharu. Please listen to me carefully."

The tone that Ruiko Saten used, more than her sharp words, got Uiharu Kazari's attention. The Judgment officer would have paid attention to what her best friend was saying anyway. She and Saten were the best of friends in Sakugawa Middle School and even though Uiharu herself has an Esper ability despite having a Level 1 power, this didn't become a hindrance to their closeness, which was only tested back when Saten had used the Level Upper device. Uiharu made it a point to hang out with Saten most of the time outside of school and outside of Judgment duties to help her get over the incident. But if Saten was specifically asking for attention, she would obviously give it to her. But her tone was now urgent in a way that Uiharu had never heard Saten sound before. It was similar to the one Saten used when she had something important to say with their two other friends from Tokiwadai but this time, it was way more intense.

Immediately, Uiharu's guard went up. "What's wrong, Saten-san?"

"The man in the red hoodie is about to hold up this convenience store with a fake pellet gun. Please go apprehend him right now and stop him."

Uiharu couldn't help it but suddenly gape at her best friend's outburst. She stared dumbly at Saten and tried to make sense of the words. "I'm sorry, Saten-san but I think I heard you wrong. I don't think I understood what you said right."

"The man in the red hoodie," Saten motioned toward her urgently. "He's a failed Mangaka who's on the verge of being evicted from his apartment if he fails to pay all of his bills and he's about to try to rob this convenience store with a fake gun. So please go intercept that guy right now and stop him in the name of Judgment…"

"Can you say that one more time?" Uiharu requested again.

"There's no time, Uiharu! I'll just go after him myself!" Saten's expression changed as she tracked the guy she believed was about to rob the convenience store. The man had just started walking toward the cashier area after the last customer in line had checked out and Saten's expression changed to one that said she thought she was going to do this by herself. She obviously headed towards the cashier area as well.

Despite being an officer, Uiharu didn't know what to do in this awkward situation. On the one hand, Saten might be a bit imaginative and the daydreamer but she wasn't the kind of girl to suddenly fly off the handle and make something up like this. On the other, how could she, a mere Level 0 and a civilian, possibly know any of that?

"Open the cashier box! Give me all your money or anyone of you'll die!"

Uiharu Kazari stared.

What Saten had just predicted was going to happen had just happened in front of her eyes.

Behind the register area, the female cashier stood frozen. The gun that was trained on her looked very authentic. Uiharu wouldn't put bets on it being fake and from past experiences with Judgment, Anti-Skill and Skill-Outs, she knew what guns looked like.

And if this one was indeed a fake, it was a very, very realistic fake.

"Please stop it!"

"Whah!" The thief jumped as Saten seemingly appeared right next to him out of nowhere.

"You know that it's very wrong for you steal other money coming from hard work!" Saten bravely said as she faces off against the hooded man.

"Sh-shut up! Or I'll blow your brains out, you stupid girl!" The man shouted, turning his gun on Saten.

"You won't…" Saten smirked as she wasn't even afraid, "And you can't. Your gun is a mere pellet gun that can only hurt like an ant's bite. I bet you use it for your manga creations."

"It's not a pellet gun!" The robber violently denied it. "It's a real 9mm handgun."

"It's not," Saten insisted, "The grip's too small for it…"

"It is!"

"Then please shoot me if you even have the balls to do it…"

By this time, Uiharu was grinding her teeth but even she was too afraid to move forward with that very real looking gun aimed right at Saten's head. _You're a Judgment officer, Uiharu. Please think! I needed to think! _Her heart was beating out of control and she just knew that she was going to have nightmares about this, whether Saten survived this ordeal or not.

The robber stood frozen except for his shaking hands, and shaking pistol, which he still had pointed at Saten. He didn't shoot him, to her relief, but one could see the desperation building in his eyes.

Suddenly, Uiharu realized what the robber was going to do a second before he did it. Deciding to pick up a pipe nearby her, she lunged forward but she was too far away. The robber suddenly whipped Saten in the face with the pistol. Fake gun or not, it still seemed very solid, and Saten went down very hard.

"Stop it!"

Uiharu crashed into the would-be robber, striking him with the pipe and knocking him right into a drink rack. Their momentum and combined weight toppled the drink rack and the snack rack on the other side of it. The gun fell from the robber's hand and Uiharu knocked it out of both their reach then proceeded to lay into the man with the pipe, pummeling him furiously, taking revenge for her best friend.

"You don't touch her! You don't point a gun at Saten-san!" Uiharu angrily yelled, "Not my friend, you thief!"

"Uiharu…I think that's enough, Uiharu..."

Saten's voice snapped Uiharu out of her rage. She looked up and saw Saten up on her feet, albeit in a wobbly state. She had her hand held to her forehead, over her right eye. Blood was dripping down her face, giving Uiharu an infuriatingly worried feeling.

When she looked down at the man she was pummeling, Uiharu saw that the would-be robber seemed to have lost consciousness. The Judgment officer heaved a sigh before she stood up and hurriedly moved towards Saten.

"You're hurt, Saten-san. I need to take you to the nearest hospital…"

"I'll be alright," Saten waved it off, "Although I'm feeling a bit off."

"Then you're still going to the hospital."

"I don't need—"

"That can't do. You can lose consciousness if you just do nothing about it," Uiharu chided her. She then turned to the convenience store's employee. "Call the nearest Anti-Skill post here. Then get a first aid kit."

"I think the robber got off worse than I did," Saten pointed at the man.

"You're much more important than him, Saten-san…"

* * *

They stuck around until the Anti-Skill authorities came. Then they had to answer some questions. The security footage confirmed everything that Saten had confessed to the two detectives that are present. The agents watched it on the premises and made a copy of it for evidence to be used at trial. That should have been the end of their involvement since they're civilians but after watching the security footage, the younger of the two detectives came back to confront Saten.

"You were moving to intervene before that man pulled his pellet gun."

Uiharu and Saten had both left out the fact that the latter seemed to know beforehand what was going to happen. Saten had only told them what happened after the man pulled the fake gun. Not that she'd known beforehand and tried to get Uiharu to stop him before it could happen. Uiharu, despite being a Judgment officer, hadn't revealed that either since Saten hadn't. She'd planned on asking Saten about it later but it seemed she'd be getting her answers now.

"Yes. I was already moving at that time." Saten confessed.

"Why?" The other Anti-Skill agent, who had introduced himself as Detective Yagami Hikari, asked.

"Because I knew he was going to pull out a fake gun."

"How could you have known that?" Yagami's partner, Detective Matsuda Kage, demanded suspiciously. "Unless you were an accomplice, you couldn't have known that."

"No, I wasn't an accomplice," Saten said immediately.

"If you confess everything you know—"

"Let the girl speak, Matsuda," Yagami cut him off. "Saten-san, can you tell me how you knew what was going to happen?"

Saten stared at Yagami for a moment, her eyes intense. Then she spoke. "I realized that the suspect was an unemployed mangaka that was on the verge of being evicted from his apartment if he wasn't able to pay his monthly dues and realized that he intended to rob the convenience store to try to prevent that. So I wanted to stop him before he can steal off other people's money."

"How could you possibly know that unless you were in league—"

"Saten-san, please tell us how you knew this in a moment's notice," Yagami said, cutting his partner off again.

"His hands gave him away as a manga artist," Saten began to explain, "He had those pressure calluses on his right hand, in the right places for someone who spends a lot of time drawing and a scrap of screen tone stuck to his wrist."

"A bit of a giveaway, I supposed," Yagami agreed, slightly impressed, "But very observant of you to notice. Even I might have missed it completely. And how did you know he was about to be evicted?"

"His eviction notice was sticking out of his pocket. I saw it immediately. I read the visible part of it. That's all." Saten shrugged.

"And the gun?" Yagami asked. "Or rather, the fake pellet gun?"

"The sticker was stuck to the bag that he brought along with him."

"What sticker?" Matsuda asked.

"The one that comes with replicas of firearms usually used by doujin artists and mangaka," Yagami answered him, "They hasten things along a little bit when they're checked by security at the customs, or conventions, or anywhere else they might be sold. You should know this, Matsuda. We've been handling similar cases like this one before."

His partner only sulked back, clearly embarrassed.

"And you noticed all that?" Uiharu was a little amazed. "And you put it together…that's how you knew?"

"I didn't do anything wrong though," Saten shrugged off.

"No, you didn't," Yagami agreed with her.

"Well, actually you did something wrong!" Uiharu shrieked, "What were you thinking back there, confronting someone twice your size? At least there was only one this time, but still, do you have even have any self-preservation at all?"

"I couldn't stand by and do nothing. That would have been much more wrong," Saten argued back, "And you wouldn't even listen to me."

Uiharu grimaced, "Okay, I get it that it was my fault for not believing you, Saten-san but that doesn't mean it's alright to confront a full grown man twice your size! Don't do that again!"

"I have the feeling that you're the kind of person who would do this stuff, Saten-san," Yagami gave off a small smile.

Uiharu glared at the Anti-Skill detective, "Don't encourage her, Yagami-san!"

Yagami gave Uiharu an amused look, then handed a business card to Saten, who took it, her expression still blank, but Uiharu sensed that she was confused. Yagami must have sensed so too, because he explained shortly, "In case you notice anything else, you know what to do."

The two then left, leaving the two Sakugawa Middle School students to tend to themselves.


	2. Second Games

**The Pickpocket Problem**

Summary: The rest of their friends learn about Saten's hidden abilities and this gets them excited as they get on board with the crimebusting.

* * *

Saten Ruiko wasn't sure when she first started to know things that other people didn't. Maybe she'd always been like that. She just hadn't known that other people weren't on the same page as her until she was in elementary school. It wasn't like she was some kind of a psychic that can literally read the minds of other. Until she went to Academy City for middle school, she had been largely just a normal girl that eats, sleeps, and go to school.

Reading magazines, always surfing the Internet and most of all, having a social charisma as she had no time speaking with strangers had always been her hobby. They never felt her sharp stare as they walked home with their friends, or rushed off to work, or left work and loitered, delaying the time until they were reunited with their families but instead, they feel at ease at her observing manner.

Her gift had to be an evolved form of her hobby, Saten theorized, when she realized that other people couldn't do what she could do, couldn't look at someone and read their life from the clues they so obviously left on their persons. Bookkeepers, marketing executives, divorce attorneys, chefs...everyone wore their jobs on their sleeves. Not literally. At least not in most cases. But they might as well have, for as obvious as it all was to Saten.

Eventually, she could read not only them, but their families as well, from the cool kid who was living off his parents, to the harried mother of at least three children, rushing off to get the shopping done. And then she would just learn to read their secrets. The adulterers were so careless with their rings. The alcoholics always had scratches on their phones around the power connections.

Some days when she isn't at school or when she isn't playing with her friends, she'd sit in a subway station for hours, just watching people come and go. It wasn't actually that lonely, she told herself. How could she be lonely when she knew so many people and their secrets that they themselves might not even realize?

Then, one day, Saten realized she not only knew who and what people were, but also what they were going to do. Well, not always as she wasn't a psychic or a telephatic user and people didn't always telegraph their intentions but sometimes, she'd look at someone, and realize that she knew what they were about to do. Whenever that happened and she got that feeling, it turned out that she was always right.

She saw small things that she didn't think were right, ranging from shop liftings, drug deals, and pick pocketing to vigilante executions and pre-planned hostage taking but for years, she left it alone. They didn't overly concern her—or rather she wasn't prepared to deal with it herself. And no one who she cared about was really getting hurt.

Then her experiences in middle school such as the first time she had met a certain electrical Esper has been big at the very least and Saten learned just what silence and inaction could cost. And she realized, thanks to her friends, that if she didn't speak up or do something when she saw people who meant very little or nothing to her being hurt, she didn't really have a right to say anything when the people she did care about ended up hurt by the exact same things.

And so, Saten Ruiko decided never to make that mistake again.

* * *

The first time she tried to act on her newfound resolve, she almost got beaten to death by by a punk who got Esper abilities through the Level Upper. If one of her friends in Judgment hadn't intervened, that's probably what would have happened. Saten hadn't stopped to think about consequences when she stepped in, but if she had, she would have realized that more likely than not, at least one of those two would intervene.

There was a time when she would have been certain her friends in Sakugawa Middle School would have jumped in to defend her. But now, she wasn't even certain anymore. She couldn't be certain when it came to Makochin, Akemi, and Muu-chan because once she'd thought all her friends would always be there for each other, but then she'd ended up alone.

Misaka Mikoto, Saten didn't know as well aside from the fact that she was one of the famed Level Fives. But she was learning more about her. And what she learned, she liked. Despite her status, Misaka was very passionate, and had strong opinions about what was right and wrong as well. She effortlessly brushed aside the doubts that her past friends had made her feel about their friendship, with her idealistic thinking. Despite what happened, Saten was coming to feel like she could count on the likes of Uiharu and Misaka on a lot of things.

The next time Saten knew something was going to happen and decided to do something about it, she did try to turn to Uiharu for help first. But as she had initially feared, the Judgment officer thought that she was going nuts and paranoid for singling out what to her must have been a random person, saying that she was going to rob the convenience store, and asking her to go intercept him.

Saten ended up having to make a move on her own. It could have gone better. Getting pistol whipped by the fake gun was the second worst of the seven scenarios Saten felt were likely to occur. (And this time, he had thought to calculate the consequences) But the second she went down, Uiharu's mood changed as she charged in, furious and out for blood.

It was a good feeling, knowing a close friend wanted to protect her at all cost.

* * *

The next time Saten realized something was about to happen, that she could stop, worked out better.

"Neh, Uiharu," she said, letting a little bit of urgency into her voice, "Please listen!"

Now, it happened that Shirai Kuroko and Misaka was there too, but Uiharu was the only one who might believe Saten when she told them what was about to happen. The others, Saten had realized glumly, would need to be shown that she really could predict these things before they would help her.

Her tone caught everyone's attention, but only Uiharu could have recognized it for what it was as she immediately went full-alert.

"What do you need?" she demanded, moving closer to Saten and looking around them, as though trying to spot any threats that could prove to be hazardous.

"That woman with the brunette hair and boots is about to pick pocket the business man buying a pretzel. The one in the black suit. She'll strike when he puts his wallet back in his pocket."

"I'm on it, Saten-san!" Uiharu replied right away, immediately taking off to the candy area.

"Wait, what?" Misaka was baffled as to what she just heard.

"Uiharu, where the hell are you going?! Saten, you can't possibly know that," Shirai protested as she face-palmed, "Is this one of your hobbies of urban legends again?"

"She knows things, Shirai-san!" Uiharu called back.

The two Tokiwadai students looked back and forth between them, clearly unsure about what to think. Saten kept her eyes on the scene that was about to unfold, and when it happened, the two high-ranked Espers fixed their eyes on it as well. The black-suited entrepreneur put his wallet back into his back pocket. The brown-haired pick pocket relieved him of it. _Easy as taking a candy from a kid. _

Suddenly, Uiharu grabbed her wrist before she could even make the wallet vanish from the pocket.

"In the name of Judgment, give the man back his wallet, lady. It's not nice to steal!"

"I'm not…I didn't anything…let go of me!" The woman stuttered as she had a scuffle with the smaller Uiharu.

"Then let go of that man's wallet!" The flower-banded girl demanded.

"Hey, that's my wallet!" The businessman exclaimed in pure shock, turning around and seeing what the commotion was about.

"If she gets away from Uiharu, she's going to try to make a getaway down the stairs," Saten predicted, "And she is going to get away from Uiharu right now."

She was surprised but pleased when she saw Shirai immediately began teleport to the area to block off the stairs, with Misaka right behind her. Right as the brown-haired woman dropped the wallet and pulled away from Uiharu with all her might. The latter didn't have the resolve to hold onto a scared woman, even if she was a petty thief. She didn't deliberately let her go, but she didn't go out of her way to hold her either.

An Anti-Skill officer was running toward them now but he wouldn't have made it in time to get the woman before she rushed down the stairs. Due to the distance and the surprise factor, Shirai barely made it in time to block off her retreat. But she did make it thanks to her teleportation. She skidded to a stop right in front of him when she held her arms out like she was blocking her as a goalkeeper in a soccer game. She turned to go a different way, but Misaka was there, blocking her as well while using her electricity as an added testament that should she run further, she would get toasted there and then.

Then the officer reached them. The woman got handcuffed. Statements got taken. Saten knew that she just did what she had to do and she disappeared. She hadn't done anything other than to predict and prevent the crime from happening. He didn't want to have to talk to people because of that.

* * *

An hour and a half, she had to face her friends again. She was a little worried about how they would react, but they didn't seem too upset at her desertion. _Or her uncanny ability to predict criminal behavior._

"There was a certain Agent Yagami and Agent Matsuda asking about you, Saten-san," Misaka suddenly dropped the news, looking at her with shrewd eyes.

Saten looked at Uiharu.

"He heard my name mentioned on the police scanner when things are being cleared, so he stopped by and interrogated us," Uiharu explained. "It wasn't his case, though. He just wanted to see if you were involved too."

"Well, did you tell him I was?"

"I didn't have to. He knows, anyway."

"Why did you disappear though, Saten-san?" Shirai asked with a genuine curiosity at their friend's decision to just disappear like that, "Don't you want people to know you're a hero?"

"I'm not a hero," Saten blankly said. "I didn't do anything but to ask all of you to stop it yourselves."

"Well, you did put the play into motion," Misaka explained, "Without you, that woman would have gotten away with the guy's wallet."

"And that mangaka-turned-robber would of succeeded in robbing that convenience store," Uiharu added. The two Tokiwadai girls had been briefed on that incident back when it happened while explaining Saten's head injury and the reason she was absent at their own Physical Education classes in Sakugawa.

Those little bits of good weren't nearly enough to balance out all the bad that had happened when Saten just stood by and did nothing. But those were a good start to making up for all her past sins. And this time, Saten was with people who would listen to her when she spoke up about what she thought was wrong. So maybe, just maybe, she could eventually tip the scales. Maybe someday, she could proudly call herself a hero.

And a normal one, at that.

* * *

Next chapter: Saten investigates a string of suicides that she thought it was plainly weird. In doing so, she had come close to a deadly conclusion—one that would even have the chance to take her life away.


	3. Third Games

**Lung Cancer**

Summary: Saten Ruiko investigates a string of serial suicides outside of Academy City and finds herself on the trail of the serial killer.

* * *

Suicides were a sore point for Saten Ruiko.

But it's not like she couldn't understand desperation. She knew what it was like to watch everything you cared about fall apart. And she recognized that while she had suffered hardships in a sense that she is stuck in Level 0, there were people out there who had been through much, much worse than what she was normally complaining for.

But she didn't believe in giving up when things go tough.

That was why the string of serial suicides caught her attention.

She thought the first one sounded strange—a mid-aged woman, seemingly happy, with no apparent problems, no financial problems, and a loving family, suddenly taking her own life and in a place where she had no reason to be. With the noose and the rope.

Statistically, Japan's suicide rate was so high that no one else gave it too much thought but something about it really bothered Saten.

When she heard about the suicide of the Sakugawa benchwarmer in their volleyball team, a chill went down her spine. Guilt was like an old friend to her by now but this time, it was different. The clues and news didn't even connect.

The girl, who was ahead of her by a year, was a benchwarmer who hadn't even played in every match this year but still, she alone had lots of potential as she had good agility and high leaping ability. She could have had another shot to the starting six next year. And her other teammates said that she hadn't seemed that crushed despite her setback. She was even sporting a happy face during their last match of their team.

Then she declined to go out to have lunch with the team after the match, saying she had a test to study for. Then she went to an abandoned office building nowhere near the same dormitory where Saten lives or any of her normal hangouts, and in a blink of an eyes, she ended her life.

With the same type of noose and rose that the businesswoman from a week ago had used.

Something's wrong here, she had concluded. A little voice kept nagging Saten about it and wouldn't leave her alone. After she found out about that second suicide, she literally wasn't able to sleep for a wink as for the next forty-eight hours, she kept thinking about it. Her clique's achievement in stopping the Silent Party's plan to destroy Academy City suddenly meant nothing in the face of this wrongness, and the realization that she was the only one who had noticed this and so, she was the only one who could fix this but she didn't know how or when to start.

One day, she ended up going to Officer Yagami who was surprised to see her, and surprisingly understanding when Saten explained what she'd found out, but in the end, she was as helpless as Saten was.

"I agree, something strange is afoot," Yagami agreed with her after looking over the file of newspaper clippings the middle schooler had comprised. "But I don't know what this is either. There's not enough to connect the victims for me to even make any guesses. The other problem here is that suicides are very normal in Japan that it's not surprising if investigators don't even take the time to even solve cases like these. In many cases, they simply dismiss it and left it open."

"But you agree something is wrong, Yagami-san?" Saten pressed on, "You'll try to find out what?"

"I will, Saten."

* * *

The injury of Shirai Kuroko against a certain Move Point Esper was a dampener, if not a crippling blow, to all of Saten's happy-go-lucky mood. The third serial suicide was the icing on the cake to the Sakugawa student. Even stopping another pick pocketing, with Misaka's and Uiharu's help couldn't make her feel any better. If there is anything weird though, it's the fact that it happened not in Academy City but outside of it. Even so, the method and the lack of clues around it was very much the same as those cases found in Academy City. A female was involved, a familiar sight of the noose and the rope, and backgrounds reveal that they don't have any reason to kill themselves. It was all too good to be a coincidence.

So, in an effort to help herself get out of the depressing mood, she went back to Agent Yagami Hikari with an odd request.

"You want to see the next crime scene?" Yagami asked with only a slight amount of incredulity in his voice.

"Yes," Saten replied with a tone of urgency, "Since two similar cases happened in two different places at such short span of time, I want to see it with my own eyes. I can only notice so much when all I have to go on are newspaper articles. If I wanted to solve this faster, I needed to take a closer look at the crime scene."

"I take it you saw the press conference I gave?" Yagami sighed as he chuckled. "So you know I've taken over the cases and that this Anti-Skill branch would have a lowkey cooperation and joint task force investigation with Tokyo's police agency."

"Yes, I saw that as well."

"Even so, this will be an extremely unusual situation," Yagami began to warn her, "Civilians aren't supposed to be allowed on crime scenes, let alone children like you."

Saten started to protest that she wasn't even a child but Yagami cut her off.

"However, when the said child has more awareness and potential as a detective than any real detective I know, save for myself, I acknowledge that the situation changes." Yagami smiled, "When the rules that are meant to protect people impede the ones who can protect them from doing their jobs, I think that they can be bent. Don't you think, Saten-san?"

"I just think that people should do what's right," Saten sincerely answered.

Yagami then extended his hands, "Give me your cell phone's number. If I can, I'll call you when we find the next scene."

* * *

Uiharu glanced sharply at her friend as Saten's cell phone began ringing. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought it must be one of Saten's gossip sources but the facial expression from the taller girl seemed to indicate otherwise. Saten herself seemed surprised, but when she looked at the screen and saw who was calling, her expression changed to her crimebusting face. Uiharu felt her adrenaline suddenly spike to new levels.

"What's wrong?" she demanded.

Saten motioned for him to wait before she swiftly answered her phone. She kept the conversation brief, only agreeing to something before hanging up and standing. "I'm going to a crime scene outside of Academy City. I'll see you tomorrow, Uiharu."

"Wait…what?!" Uiharu was surprised to hear it, "You're going where? And outside of Academy City? Where it's beyond Anti-Skill's jurisdiction?!"

"To a crime scene somewhere in Tokyo. And you'd be surprised to hear that the Anti-Skill is now coordinating with the police outside," Saten gave a haughty smile, "Detective Yagami even agreed to let me take a look at it."

Uiharu gawked at her. "You're helping the police with investigations now?"

"This is my first one. I requested it and Detective Yagami agreed," Saten argued.

"I'm coming with you, then…" Uiharu said with brim determination.

"Eh? But—"

"I don't care if they don't let me go in with you, I'm still going to be there," Uiharu can't just bear to see her friend getting in trouble while she alone just stand and watch.

Saten looked at her uncomprehending. "Why?"

"Because I just know you're going to get in trouble if I'm not there with you, Saten-san," Uiharu pointed out, "I know you'll do something stupid, like confront a freaking murder suspect alone, unarmed, the same way you confronted a convenience store robber with a gun."

"Fake gun. And there will be plenty of police officers there at the scene," Saten crossed her arms.

"If it's you, I doubt that will make any difference. You'll find trouble," Uiharu shook her head, "And if anything, I'll bring _them _as well."

* * *

To Misaka's surprise, she was let into the crime scene without any mishaps. Slightly later, he found out that was because people had assumed she was Saten, and had completely overlooked Saten herself. Agent Yagami, or Yagami-san, as he'd asked them to call him, seemed amused by that, and didn't mind her presence, so Misaka stood back and tried not to look at the dead body on the floor but it's not like she could help that much if she and Uiharu and Shirai, who were busy scanning the area, wanted to keep an eye on Saten. The Sakugawa student stood beside the hanging corpse like she wasn't even scared by it in the very least as the four middle school students and Yagami watched the Japanese cops began to slowly bring down the lifeless body. After the body was put on a stretcher, Saten began checking the dead woman's slim body, examining her tank top, sweatbands, grey jeans, and pumps. She then began studying her fingernails before she began to look around the room.

"Where's her shoulder bag and a piece of silver duct tape?" She asked finally.

"What?" Shirai asked.

"Her shoulder bag and a roll of duct tape," Saten quickly repeated.

"She didn't have one," Yagami countered, "And what's with the duct tape?"

"What?" Saten looked like she didn't even believe him.

"She didn't have a shoulder bag, let alone a roll of duct tape."

Saten frowned and took out her phone. She started tapping madly on it and Misaka had no idea what she was doing. "At the very least, she had to have a shoulder bag…and it should be a branded one with thick leather handles…"

"Why is that?" Misaka can't help but ask curiously.

"Because of the carving patterns on the shoulders and hands," Saten explained, "Look at the pattern. It's obvious that she's using a heavy shoulder bag."

"I'd rather not," Uiharu didn't want to look straight at a dead woman's body.

"You only get that pattern from the pressure of putting the shoulder bag handle on your arms. And the reason why I'm looking for a duct tape was because she must have been captured and interrogated here before the "suicide," Saten put air quotes on the word, "Look at her mouth. Whoever cleaned it up must be in a hurry that he or she wasn't able to do it properly but nevertheless, it was still impressive. But not enough this time."

As if to prove her point, Saten touched the woman's lips with her pointing finger and to the shock of those present, a sticky residue stuck in the fingers of the girl.

"So…that means…" Shirai can feel her stomach suddenly churn in pain.

"Exactly what I'm thinking but for now, I needed to find the shoulder bag," Saten then began to search wildly in the crime scene.

"Maybe she took it home," Detective Matsuda Kage, Yagami's less intelligent and easy-to-read partner, offered.

"No. She didn't take it home or leave it at a motel," Saten then hurried out of the room and into some nearby civilian by-standers. "Excuse me! Did anyone see a grey shoulder bag? Anyone?"

"Saten-san," Yagami asked, "What do—"

"Why do you think her shoulder is going to be grey?" Matsuda cut him off with the clearly more important question.

Saten was already moving halfway up to the stairs. "Isn't it obvious, Agent Matsuda?"

"Why would it be obvious?"

"Grey tank top. Grey heels. Grey nail polish, Grey wallet. Grey pants. All the same alarming color of grey. The shoulder bag will be the same. I'm going to go find it."

"What? Saten-san!" Uiharu shouted but Saten was already gone.

"Well, that wasn't quite what I expected…" Yagami sighed.

Uiharu tried to hurry after Saten but her best friend had too big of a head start, not to mention that her best friend had that uncanny knack for disappearing in a nick of time even when she was just in plain sight. By the time Uiharu made it to the door, Saten had completely vanished.

She took out her phone and debated calling someone. She wasn't sure really who to call, or what to say to them. "Hey, Konori-senpai, me and the others are outside of Academy City as Saten-san's going to visit crime scenes now. Crime scenes with actual dead bodies in them. We would like some help." Well, that would be interesting but probably not worth the migraine she'd get from it, considering the fact that they actually didn't have the blessing of Konori Mii and that this case is already outside their jurisdiction.

Calling Yomikawa Aiho was out because the branch she was in was far too different from Yagami's and she would probably end up having a quarrel with the two agents currently with them for allowing middle school students to interfere with cases that aren't supposed to be handled by them.

She did try calling Saten but the taller girl didn't answer, which she somehow expected. Uiharu did have some comfort from the fact that Saten was only looking for a shoulder bag right now. Not the actual murderer. If there was a murderer, she would have probably gone hysterical right now. These serial suicides scared her guts out and she wasn't afraid to admit it.

* * *

Right as they got home, Uiharu got a text from Saten.

_Come at my dormitory once if convenient_.

Before Uiharu could send a text back calling Saten an idiot, another text arrived.

_If inconvenient, please come anyway._

"What the . . ."

_Could be dangerous._ Was the third and final text, which prompted Uiharu to run back up to her own dormitory to pick up some things needed.

_I'm coming, Saten-san. Stay alive until I get there!_ Uiharu texted back. He ran all the way to a certain street, as fast as her un-athletic legs would allow. Konori was going to kill her and Shirai when she got a report on what they did tomorrow, she was sure, but she could live with that. If something bad happened to Saten, not so much.

But, and Uiharu wasn't sure whether to be relieved or annoyed when she found this out, Saten, together with Misaka and a wheelchair-bounded Shirai, turned out to be perfectly fine when she arrived. She was seated cross-legged on the floor, staring at an extremely extravagant little shoulder bag, the contents of which, she's spread out around herself. Shirai even took a look at a Macau keychain coming from the bag

"What are you doing, Saten-san?" Uiharu gasped for air.

"What?"

"I asked what are you doing?"

"Thinking…" Saten deadpanned.

Uiharu looked at the case then back at Saten, "Did you really find that woman's shoulder bag?"

"Obviously, yes. It was in a dumpster, only half a block away. The murderer didn't make it too far before realizing it was still in his car," Saten explained.

"Murderer?" Uiharu gawked at what she heard.

"Isn't it obvious?" Saten looked at Uiharu like she expected an answer and Uiharu realized this was one of those times when Saten couldn't tell whether or not other people saw things the same way she did. He wasn't trying to be arrogant but that didn't make it any less annoying.

"There's nothing obvious about this at all."

"Oh. Sorry, Uiharu" Saten paused then asked, "Do you all want me to explain it?"

"Yes! Start with why you ran out on Yagami-san like that!" Shirai demanded.

"I told him that it's to find the shoulder bag," Saten looked a bit bewildered.

"Why?"

"Because I knew the killer wouldn't make it very far before realizing he still had it. It's a bit of an eyesore. It's also extremely exposed, so I knew he'd want to get rid of it first chance he could," Saten explained hastily, "I searched the dumpsters and trash bins around the building where the crime scene was. It took me less than half an hour to find it."

"Shouldn't you, I don't know, turn it over to the police?" Misaka shrugged, "I mean, they should be the ones making closer scrutiny on it."

"I will. But I found it. I wanted the first look at the woman's phone," Saten replied

"What phone?" Shirai asked.

"That's what I've been wondering. Oh, that reminds me…Misaka-san, I need you to send a text for me."

"What? You can't use your own phone to send it?" Misaka asked with a hint of misperception.

"No. See the phone number on the tag here?" Saten showed her a set of numbers. "Please send this text there—"

"Hang on…" Misaka then pulled out her own Gekota-encased mobile phone and she entered the number she needed to text too. "Alright, go ahead."

"Text this exactly, please. _What happened at Takeda Gardens? I must have blacked out. Highlands Coffee Shop near Todai on Murasaki Street, Bunkyo Ward, Tokyo. Please come._"

Misaka looked at her very close friend in alarm. "You blacked out?"

"No."

"But you just said—"

"I lied. Well, I know lying is bad but we're only lying to a murderer so it's alright."

Misaka had just pressed the "send" button as Saten finished saying this. "What? Do you mean— Saten, did I just text a murderer?"

"Yes."

Uiharu and Shirai nearly choked at the drink they were consuming the moment they realized that the Level Five Railgun had just sent a message to a serial killer.

"Why?"

Misaka's phone started ringing.

"Don't answer that," Saten said quickly.

"Saten-san, what the hell is going on?" Uiharu didn't know if they were all going to survive this with their sanity intact.

Saten stood up. "I'll explain on the way but first, let's all move out..."

* * *

It turned out that when she slowed down and explained things for other people, Saten was actually very articulate and that she made things easier for other to understand. She explained her three friends how she'd figured the murdered woman must have a phone because she didn't have a laptop. She'd theorized that she had to have brought one or the other on this trip with her, because she was a serial cheater, something she'd realized from the fact that all of her jewelry was clean except for her wedding ring, which was only polished on the inside, meaning she regularly removed it. Her explanation for how she knew she was out of town was kind of intricate and involved morning jogs and the fact that the woman's other tank top was soaked with sweat but her black coat was dry. Uiharu didn't care too much about that so she zoned out until Saten got back to things that she could understand better, like how she guessed that the killer must still have the phone because it wasn't in the shoulder bag, or on the dead woman, and so likely, if the woman knew she was going down to her death, she'd planted it somewhere in the killer's car, hoping it would lead the investigators to her murderer.

"You really think that he's foolish enough to even show up at Highlands Coffee, much less in a place where a lot of people from the University of Tokyo would be walking back and forth?" Misaka asked as they made their way there.

"No. I think he's genius enough to."

They went into Highlands Cofree, got their set of coffee, caramel, and tune pie, and sat down at a random table.

"Don't stare out the window," Saten admonished when Uiharu started to do just that.

"You're staring out the window," Uiharu retorted, quite annoyed.

"But the killer won't see me staring out the window because of this curtain," Saten shrugged.

Uiharu rolled her eyes, "Probably true. But how are you going to know him when you see him? You don't even know who he is."

"No. But I know _what_ he is."

"What?"

"I see the connection now," Saten narrowed her eyes as she rests her chin in her clasped hands, "I was too blind to not even see it before. Who else could abduct four unrelated people out of public places both in Academy City and the whole of Tokyo, with no struggle? If there'd been any connections between them other than their deaths, I would have thought that they all knew their murderer, but there was no overlap. Agent Yagami checked very carefully. It was so obvious. I feel like a fool."

"If you're a fool, I don't even want to think about what the rest of us are," Misaka was exasperated as she drank her caramel drink. "What are you talking about? Who is this guy?"

"Whose car do you get into without a second thought?" Saten suddenly asked a very confusing question. "Whose car does anyone get into without a second thought?"

"Their mom or dad's? I don't know…"

"No," Saten replied and her voice actually had a little bit of frustration, "You don't have to pretend you haven't figured it out yet to make me feel better."

Uiharu glared at her. "Who's pretending? Saten-san, you really sound so annoying today…"

Minutes lated, Uiharu, Shirai, and Misaka went to take a Sip at their drinks but found that it was empty. "We're getting a refill. Saten-san, just…stay here and try not to be so annoying for now."

The three of them had only gone to the counter to get second servings for a minute. A freaking minute. No more than that. There wasn't even a line at the counter. In fact, it was more like thirty or forty seconds. But when they got back, Saten was gone.

Uiharu stared at Saten's seat, expecting her best friend to just suddenly pop out of nowhere and say that it was just a prank, like she did so often to them. But after several seconds, the three of them realized that Saten Ruiko really was no longer there.

"Saten-san? Where—"

Suddenly, Shirai heard a sound of what looked like to be a roll of duct tape being torn apart. The teleporter then looked out the window just in time to see their best friend slump to the ground, her back against a taxicab. She was currently being gagged by an unknown guy.

"What the –"

Saten was still slightly conscious. She tried to crawl away but suddenly, the cab driver lifted her up and shoved her into the backseat.

"Hey!"

Shirai quickly teleported out of the restaurant, oblivious to the scene she'd made. Her only thought was getting to their best friend before it was too late.

However, the injury that Shirai had prevented her from going all out. The cab driver was already back in behind the wheels when Shirai got outside, only to end up landing in a garbage bin since her injury stung her again and worse, her wheel chair got destroyed. The driver was already pulling away and desperately, Shirai tried to chase after the car, ignoring the pain in her thigh. She didn't care about slowing down her recovery, or what Konori, their dormitory head master or Yomikawa was going to say when they saw all four of them. She only cared about getting her friend back.

_So we could kill Saten-san ourselves for pulling this crap!_

But it was useless. She wasn't strong and fast enough as she is now. Even if she was uninjured, she realized that she wouldn't have been fast enough to chase the car. The taxi disappeared into the Tokyo traffic, leaving nothing behind to show it had ever been there, spiriting her friend away.

* * *

"Wake up…"

Saten opened her eyes slowly and tried to take stock of her surroundings. Everything was slow, like she was in mud. Or some viscous liquid. But why? And who was this funny looking guy who—

_Oh._

Saten remembered now. Confronting the cab driver turned serial killer. Alone. That had not been the best play she'd ever made. If she lived through this, Uiharu and the rest were going to kill her.

"I hope you don't mind. I got your address off your student handbook," said the killer/cab driver. "Saten Ruiko…we're somewhere not far from where we've met…"

Saten tried to stand. She ended up face planting on the floor.

"Careful," the cabbie said as he began to peel off the duct take off Saten's mouth, "The drugs are still in your system."

"What did you give me?" Saten inquired, remembering the syringe in her arm and the panic she'd felt as the world started to go dark.

"Just a little something to knock you out for a bit. You'll be dizzy for a while if you even try to walk, but in a minute, you'll be able to think fine," the driver said. "Which is good. I want you on your best game."

"Game?" Absurdly, Saten thought she was talking about the Daihaseisai for a minute. She couldn't think of any other game.

"Yes. A game between just you and me," the cabbie smiled.

"And…if I don't want to play?" Saten challenged.

"You already are playing," the driver mocked her, "Thinking you're so smart, trying to hunt me down."

"That's not a game," Saten exclaimed, trying to crawl somewhere. She didn't know where yet. "That was the right thing to do."

The cabbie hauled her off the floor and into a chair at the table.

"The right thing? Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"No. I don't see anything funny with it," Saten flinched when the cabbie took hold of her jaw, "Stop it..."

"Do you think you can make me?" the driver only groped at her jaw even more. Saten tried in vain to swat his hand away. "You're as weak as a newborn fawn. I could do anything I wanted to you right now, you know. Anything at all."

He gave Saten a moment to let the implication sink in. Saten forced herself to show no emotion or signs of fear when it did.

"But don't worry," the driver spoke, "I'm only going to kill you. As long as you play nice. If you try anything funny, like screaming or shouting…well…I promise it won't go well for you…"

Saten stared at her blankly.

"Now. Onto the game." The cabbie sat down in the chair opposite her and took out two clear glass bottles. In each one were several pink pills with red speckles on them. The cabbie put both bottles down on the table. "So do you know how I make them take the poison before I hang them?"

He waited for Saten to say something as the girl only looked at the bottles.

"Well…" she finally began to speak, "Here's how. See, there's a good bottle, and a bad bottle. In one bottle, there's the poison. In the other, it's some kind of a candy pill. Choose the good pill and you'll live. Choose the bad one and you'll die. And whichever one you don't take, I do—and you know which is which.

"Of course I know."

"But I don't."

The cabbie smirked, "It wouldn't be a game if you knew. See, you get to choose one. And if you choose right, you live and you won't end up being found hanging lifeless."

Anger washed over Saten, giving herself a bit more strength to fight against the drugs in her system. "That's not a game. It's a chance, you idiot."

"Not really," the cabbie laughed, obviously enjoying Saten's frustrated expression, "I've played four times. Yet I'm still alive. It's not chance, Ruiko-chan. It's shogi."

The condescending honorific (and how he casually called her by her first name) made Saten want to hit this man with a baseball bat.

"It's a game of shogi with a winner and a checkmate…" the driver exclaimed "And this right here…this is just one step from calling it a checkmate…"

He then picked up the bottle on his right and moved it across the table so that it was within easy reach for Saten.

"Did I just give you the candy or the poison?" he asked. "You can choose either one."

Saten stared at the pills on the table before lifting her gaze up to the cabbie. "So that's how you've been doing it? That's how you killed all of them before making it look like it was a suicide? You gave them a choice?"

"You've got to admit," the cabbie drawled, "For a serial killer, I'm pretty nice. Anyways, time's up. It's time for you to choose."

"And then?" Saten skeptically asked.

"And then," the cabbie said, "together we take our medicine."

And he smacked his lips together. "Let's play."

Saten gritted his teeth as he stared at the cabbie. This man …he didn't deserve to be called a man. This guy was wrong in the worst kind of way. _And to think psychotic maniacs like him exist… _

"Play what?" she demanded, "It's a fifty-fifty chance!"

"You're not playing the odds, Ruiko-chan," the cabbie drawled, "You're playing against me. Did I give you the good pill or the bad one? Is it a bluff? Or a double bluff? Or even a triple bluff? Or maybe even a quadruple bluff—"

"Can you stop this craziness?! It's still chance!" Saten angrily shrieked.

"I've beat four people in a row! It's not chance."

"Then it's luck! Besides, chance and luck aren't that much different!"

"No, it's genius!" the cabbie looked like he was high on drugs. "It's all about how people think. And I know how they think. And how they think I think. I can see it all, like a map in my head. Everyone's so stupid, especially you."

Saten glared at him. Then she swallowed her anger. "You chose female people who weren't from either Tokyo or Academy City or at least not the parts where you found them. Looking for people who didn't know where they were, so they wouldn't know you were taking them to the wrong places. You risked your life four times…to kill strangers. Oh…I see now..."

"See what?" the cabbie asked, raising his eyebrows.

"You're dying…"

The cabbie twitched in shock.

"…And you don't have long…" Saten realized.

"Lung cancer plus…my wife left me because of it…" the cabbie said, a dark look replacing his shocked one. He tapped the side of his chest. " Any breath could be my last..."

"And you think that's an excuse for murdering four people?" Saten demanded.

"I've outlived four people!" the cabbie spat back.

"But you're not going to outlive five…" Saten boldly challenged him.

"Oh no?"

"No," Saten shook her head, "I'm not going to play your disgusting game."

"Then I'll choose for you and shove it down on your throat."

"I'll fight back," Saten's eyes glared harder.

"You're weak as a new-born fawn from that shot I gave you."

"It doesn't matter. I never give up without a fight. Even with sedatives in my system, I'm a relatively healthy teenage athlete. You're an old man with a lung cancer. Are those odds that you want to play?"

"Well…" said the cabbie, reaching into his jacket, "There's always this..."

With that, he pulled out a gun. A real one, this time.

Saten looked at it. "Is that supposed to scare me?"

"It would if you had a lick of sense, girl."

"Then go ahead," Saten dared him to, "Shoot me."

The cabbie aimed the gun at her head and pulled the trigger. A small flame appeared out of the barrel of the gun or rather, the cigarette lighter that had been made to look like a gun.

"I've had enough of this," Saten sighed. She stood, very carefully, and took it as a good sign that she managed to keep her balance. "I'm calling the authorities."

"Seems I underestimated you, Ruiko-chan. Looks like you might be a genius yourself."

"Think what you will," Saten replied, "Besides, I don't exactly appreciate you calling me by my first name."

"I saw that glare you gave me when I called you stupid. You know you're smart. You're just too modest to say so out loud. Well, is it really going to sit alright with you?"

"What?"

"Never knowing if you could have beaten me?" the cabbie began to taunt her, "Will you be alright never knowing if you were really smarter than me or not?"

"I am smarter than you, old man. I'm smart enough to know nothing good comes of hurting other innocent people. You're not."

"Well, just out of curiosity, which one would you have picked?" the cabbie asked, "Come on. Humor me. If you do, I promise I'll sit here like a good boy and let the police come arrest me."

Saten stared at him, surprised because everything she could read about whether a person was lying or not told her that he was telling the truth now.

So, wordlessly, Saten reached across the table and lifted the bottle that the cabbie had left closer to herself.

"Oh, interesting," the cabbie noted. He reached for the other bottle and took a pill out of it. "Want to see if you were right?"

"No…"

"You're lying, Ruiko-chan," the cabbie looked straight into the girl, "Remember, I know how people think. You want to try it out. You want to prove that you were right. So, how about it?"

"No…"

"What's wrong? Worried you're stupid after all?"

"I'm not stupid, old man,"

"Then prove it!"

There were a million reasons not to but somehow, Saten found her hands twisting off the bottle cap, and dipping her fingers, removing one pill from the bottle.

She held up the pill to her eye level, inspecting it, still not feeling sure. But the cabbie's eyes were lit up like he'd already won. And Saten's hands were shaking slightly for reasons she didn't understand. She knew this was a bad idea. She knew that this was stupid. But on the other hand, she has no plans in giving the cabbie the satisfaction about knowing that he had just been proven right.

"Shall we?" the cabbie asked.

Saten began to lower her hand.

_SWISH!_

The pill slipped out of Saten's fingers as all of the sudden, a thin but powerful line of blue electricity shot through and straight to the cabbie. The old man fell onto the table, then off it, onto the ground. Saten gawked down at the large, burning whole in her back, then stared at the matching hole in the window. For once, she was glad that luck was on her side.

* * *

"What the hell were you thinking, Saten? Pulling shit like that! We'll really kill you this time!" Shirai shouted angrily as she was being carried by Yomikawa, whom the three other girls asked for help to track down Saten's location.

"Just in case though, let's move out quickly when the Japanese authorities from Tokyo's police agency arrives quickly," Saten had the nerve to divert the topic, "I don't think they will look your way when trying to find a suspect, but there's no point in taking chances."

"Don't talk to me about taking chances," Shirai joined in the conversation. "Not after all this shit you pulled! I thought you and Uiharu came to an understanding about you approaching suspects alone! And then…tell me you weren't really going to swallow that pill!"

"I wasn't going to…"

"You were!" Misaka herself was horrified to see her friend nearly take the pill.

"I wasn't…"

"We saw that look on your face, Saten…" Yomikawa sighed as she joins in, clearly not pleased, "You were definitely going to!"

Saten looked at the ground. "I don't know if I was going to or not..."

Uiharu can only facepalm, "I don't know what we're going to do with you…"

"I'm sorry…"

"You should be!" Shirai shrieked, "Never do that again, Saten! Your life is worth too much to waste in a pissing contest with some self-proclaimed genius but crazy old geezer who's had too much bitterness in his life!"

"But I did choose the right one…"

"You don't know that!" Misaka growled, "When Yagami-san and Matsuda-san went to inspect tha scene, they told us the pills got mixed up when the cabbie fell on the table."

"I know. I could have chosen the right one, though."

"You don't know! Now shut up or we'll have to duct tape your mouth if you continued that!" Shirai threatened.

After a few minutes of more arguments, the girls ended up really gagging up Saten as they decided to go home to Academy City.

But despite that, and the pain she knew she was going to go through, she couldn't help but feel it was overshadowed by another kind of dread.

That thrill she'd felt holding that pill tonight scared her. The thrill of all the danger she'd been in, to be honest. She'd never felt more alive than when she was playing a game with her life as the stakes.

Maybe it was because for the first time in a long time, all the guilt for her past inaction had been pushed away. Or maybe it was something else. Some deep seated addiction to danger that she'd never known she had before since she'd never been in real danger as close as this one before. But whatever it was, she already knew she'd be feeling it again.

She had no intentions of stopping this thing she'd started.

Saten Ruiko just hoped her three friends would be there next time again, to save her from herself.


	4. Fourth Games

**Misora Naomi**

Summary: Saten finds herself on a hunt to save a woman who was kidnapped after she stumbles upon the site where she was abducted and noticed signs anyone else would have missed.

* * *

It was December 28, three days after Christmas Eve.

Saten and Misaka were peacefully walking in the streets leading towards Highlands Coffee near the University of Tokyo and it's only the two of them since their two other friends had been called for an emergency meeting in Judgment's branch. It has been some few days now since majority of its students who have gone home to their respective prefectures had finally began to return. Saten is not an exemption; she decided to go home once it was announced that Academy City was under a "lockdown" and she used this opportunity to give herself some break from their unofficial crime-busting adventures that isn't covered by Anti-Skill and Judgment duties.

"The coffee in Highland's really good that it makes me get pumped up even on the face of physical activities," Saten said as she was referring to their daily doses of combating lawlessness in Academy City thanks to her gift of sharp perception, "I wonder what they actually put in their caffeine."

"I heard that Highland's actually a Vietnamese company and as far as I know, they use the far more tastier Robusta beans than the normal Arabica ones," Misaka explained as she can feel her own stomach growling since she haven't even taken breakfast just so she can fill her stomach in the coffee restaurant. It wasn't long before they have spotted the large coffee restaurant but before they can even reach the premises of the whole area, the Railgun heard several familiar voices coming from the opposite direction.

"I'm telling you Index, I don't have the money to buy you another set of tuna pie and Robusta coffee!"

"Neh, Touma, you're being too stingy again! Besides, it's still technically Christmas! Sharing is giving!"

"Not when you almost blitzed through our week-long supplies in our refrigerator!"

_That voice… _Suddenly, Misaka had lost all of her desire to fill her stomach as she instead whipped her head towards the direction in front of her and true to her suspicion, it was none other than a certain Imagine Breaker in Kamijou Touma and a certain silver haired nun who goes by the name of Index Librorum Prohibitorum. There is also Othinus, the former Magic God who is currently sitting on the shoulders of young teen. It had been three days since they last saw each other and that only made the blood of the Railgun boil faster than the speed of sound.

"You!"

"Eh? Misaka-san?"

"Eh? Short Hair?!"

Of course, both Kamijou and Index were more than surprised to see the brunette here in the same place at the same time although if one is to ask the spiky haired boy, he would reply that he isn't anymore as surprised as he used to be in the past. After all, it was always a daily occurrence on his part.

"Oh, hey, Misaka, and…" Kamijou looked at Saten, who simply smiled, "Saten-san, was it? I think you're the same person whom I borrowed a lucky charm back from the Daihaseisai."

"Yes, that was me…"

"Hey, are you ignoring me?!" Misaka shrieked, "And besides, is your wound okay now?"

"Uh…sorry Misaka and yeah, my wound's not bad at all," Kamijou scratched his head, "By the way, how's Last Order? Is she fine?"

"Uh…huh…" It the only reply of Misaka as she noticed Saten had seemed distracted all the while they were in front Highlands Coffee. She looked at Saten when she didn't seem to be even talking after introducing herself to the only man in their group, and was slightly not surprised to see that Saten didn't seem to be paying any attention at all to them.

She was, however, surprised to see Saten wandering into the alley that they'd just started to walk past.

"Uhm? What're you doing?" Kamijou was curious as Saten held her hand near the wall, just short of touching it, her fingers spread apart at fairly wide intervals. _Yes, human. What was she doing? _Even Othinus looked a bit curious at what the Sakugawa student was doing at this point.

Saten gave him a brief glance, but that was the only acknowledgement she gave to the Imagine Breaker. "Her eyes were odd," Othinus noted. It was like she was only half there. Well no—actually, it was like she was more there than anyone else.

_Like she was seeing things that no one else could see._

Othinus knew how that was. But she didn't know what there was to be seen here. Forher, it was just a normal alley.

"Are you okay?" Misaka asked, just to make sure, as Saten picked something up off the ground. Then she blinked as she saw what it was.

_It was a freaking fingernail. _

Painted a darkish red.

Kamijou hoped to the gods that it was a fake nail, and not a real one, but even then, Saten shouldn't just be walking around picking things like that up as Misaka held her stomach to prevent herself from vomiting before calling out to her close friend, "Put that down! It's probably diseased, Saten!"

And just how did she get stuck playing the role of the responsible one?

"Misaka…"

The voice was unlike any that Kamijou had heard Saten use during the Daihaseisai. She didn't raise it from her usual high-pitched tone but it was tone full of urgency.

Misaka stopped paying full-attention to Kamijou and came sprinting forward, the boy completely forgotten. But Kamijou Touma didn't look too miffed. If anything, he looked a little worried, probably from the combination of that foreign tone Saten had used and the way Misaka had dropped out in the middle of their little pissing contest to run to Saten's side.

"What is it? What do you need?" Misaka asked in an urgent tone of her own. Index didn't miss how alert she'd suddenly gone, or the way her fists clenched, like she was ready for danger.

"This fingernail's a fake," Saten explained, looking up at Misaka with darkened eyes. Then past her to where Kamijou and Index were starting to move toward them. "Please keep those two out of my crime scene, Saten."

Instantly, Misaka was blocking their path using her electric powers.

Index took a step back and held up her hands in surrender. She didn't want to try to get past Misaka if there wasn't an Anti-Skill officer standing by with a gun and a baton. She had the feeling that without the threat of penal laws hanging over her head, Misaka would be cracking open and frying other peoples' heads if they wanted to challenge her.

"Crime scene?" Kamijou was not surprisingly skeptical, "Saten-san, what are you talking about?"

"Something bad happened here," Saten replied quickly. And now she had a little clutch purse in her hands that she'd started going through. "A woman here was abducted."

"What? That sounds too farfetched…" Kamijou gawked.

"How do you figure that? It just looks like a normal alley to me…" Index didn't know how to feel about the situation.

"Could you two just shut up and let her work," Misaka hissed angrily.

"You can't possibly believe what she just said, Misaka," Kamijou was staring at the Railgun like she was some sort of an idiot to believe at such silly claim, "That's just absurd! Even if that did happen, there's no way she could know!"

"That black pumps over by the curb," Saten pointed out. "She lost that when she was thrown into a car, possibly the trunk part. She lost one of her fake fingernails when they dragged her out of the alley. There are scratches from her other nails on the wall here, indicating that she could have fought back. And she dropped her purse when they jumped her. She…oh..."

"What's wrong?" Misaka demanded at the change of tone of her friend.

She looked over her shoulder as Saten held up some sort of a police badge.

"This is bad! Really bad!" Saten seemed to panic, "I'm calling Agent Yagami and Officer Teshiba from the National Police Agency." Yes, she was given a calling card from the police agency of Japan because of her unique gift that was revealed by Yagami to the police.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Othinus felt a slight thrill rush through her. This was kind of like being in an action drama that she would have love to participate in. And she'd heard about this from the television—about how a group of four middle school students had gotten involved in a couple police cases and ended up solving them. These middle school students had found out who murdered that girl from Sakugaya after their volleyball match. These people had friend who had Sherlock Holmes level skills of deduction on their clique.

And it looked like that girl was none other than Saten Ruiko.

Kamijou didn't look like he intended to deny Saten's deductions. That actually made sense, since Saten had just found a purse with a badge in it. Even if one could explain away or convince themselves to ignore the lost shoe or the broken off fingernail, a purse with a police badge in was another story.

"Detective Yagami? It's me!" Saten called into her phone. "I'm calling to report the abduction of Misora Naomi. Misora-san is an FBI agent, possibly an undercover agent. She was taken from an alley at Murasaki Street near Highlands Coffee…"

Misaka looked around as Saten rattled off the address, trying to see if she could spot some clue that could help solve the case, or find something relevant. Unfortunately, she came up blank.

A minute later, Saten was off the phone. "Misaka?"

"Tell me what you need," Misaka replied.

"A distraction," Saten immediately mouthed off.

"Who am I distracting?"

"The people in the ramen store..." Saten motioned at the by-standers near a dilapidated food store. "It's probably not necessary but you and the others get mad at me when I take unnecessary risks. So please distract them while I go in and steal all their security footage."

"Wait…" Kamijou looked a bit terrified at what she was about to do. "What are you talking about? What do you want to do that for, Saten-san?"

"One of their cameras is trained right on the street outside of this alley," Saten answered. "They'll have it on tape."

"And has it occurred to you to just go and ask for the tape?" Kamijou sounded concerned. "Or perhaps to let the police ask for it? You're being reckless!"

"Please use your own head, Kamijou-san," Saten replied back. "That ramen store had a high possibility of being used as a front for laundering drug money. They are not just going to give up their security tapes. So I'm going to take them by myself."

"If they're really laundering drug money, which I thing I would believe you about, then what you're planning to do is dangerous," Misaka darkly said. "What if you get caught?"

"I know you don't like me putting myself in danger, Misaka," Saten said, "But there's a woman's life at stake."

Misaka's fist clenched tighter.

"I have to do this," Saten was not wavering. She stared up into Misaka's eyes earnestly. "I can't look pass this, Misaka."

"You better not get caught," Misaka growled, praying to herself that she wouldn't have to use her own powers when the situation goes dire.

A small smile crossed Saten's face. "I won't."

"And if you do, then you shout for help."

"I will."

"Swear it," Misaka demanded.

"I swear," Saten said. "If I get in trouble, I promise I'll shout for you."

"Saten-san," Kamijou was worried, "This is ridiculous and dangerous. Why don't you let me—"

"Knowing you, you'd probably make it worse," Misaka scoffed, "What kind of distraction do you want me to do, Saten? Shit, Saten? Where…"

"Over there," Index pointed to a certain location, "She just slipped back inside the store when that glasses guy walked out."

"That girl…" Misaka grimaced, "Okay, distraction. I need to make a distraction."

Now, despite being rivals for the affection of the boy besides them, Index saw the lost, desperate look on her face and she took pity. "Don't worry, Short Hair! I'll help you cause a distraction!"

"Eeh, Index-san, I have a feeling that this won't end pretty well…" Kamijou tried to stop her.

"Come on, Touma? Can't you see that she needs help despite the fact that I hate her? Besides, it seems like fun!"

"Ignore that idiot, Silver Sister," Misaka brushed off the spiky haired boy. "How are we going to cause a distraction?"

"Alright, I've seen this a lot of times on television so come over here," Index replied, hurrying back to stand right in front of the convenience store's doors. Once they were there, she squared her shoulders and braced herself, "Alright. Now. Punch or slap me in the face."

Misaka stared at her incredulously. "What?"

"I said punch me or hit me in the face. Didn't you hear me?" Index asked.

"Well, first and foremost, I only do that when I really hate that person. Second, I only hear that kind of phrase when I'm talking to the other Level Fives, though it is more of an insinuation," Misaka replied, still staring at her like she was stupid.

"Oh, you're so irritating Short Hair!" Index cried impatiently. Then she proceeded to slap Misaka hard in the face that it left a red mark on her cheek.

Misaka tilted sidewards then recovered and acted on instinct. She came at Index seething and Index had just enough time before her fists connected to think that perhaps, she'd made a mistake.

But at the very last second, something flickered in Misaka's eyes, a realization of sorts. She pulled his punch. A little. It still hurt like heck when it connected with Index's jaw. But it didn't take her head off.

"You Silver-Haired sister!" Misaka snarled, grabbing her by her white habit when she would have staggered and fallen.

Index shoved her off. "Gotta make it look real, Short Hair!"

Then she tried to tackle Misaka Mikoto.

_Tried_ being the operative word.

As expected, it didn't really work. But she was willing to bet it made for a good show. And it did pay off on her part as slowly, more and more people are gathering around the two squabbling ladies as the Railgun and the Keeper of 103,000 grimoires were busy tackling down each other. _This is just so embarrassing… _Kamijou thought as he suddenly grew uncomfortable with the number of people watching the mock fight. But in the end, he decided he must do something.

"Stop it! What are you doing! Stop!"

"Stay out of this, Touma/You idiot!" Index and Misaka simultaneously said then both huffed the latter took a punch from Misaka to the stomach.

They carried on, with Kamijou frantically trying to drag them apart. It didn't work too well for him and in fact, he got his own banana hit lightly during the fight, but Misaka and Index took the worst of it as they both collided with the garbage bins nearby. Well, to be honest, the nun got the worst of it even though she could tell Misaka was deliberately holding back, and hitting her in the spots that wouldn't hurt as much.

_Neh, Short Hair's too strong even if she's using a fraction of her power. _Index mentally groaned as she then headbutted the brunette, causing both of them to hit another garbage bin.

Thankfully for the silver-haired nun, Saten reappeared quickly with the CCTV tapes and equipment and ended it. And Kamijou was there to catch Index when he would have fallen.

"I got all the footage. We should leave quickly," she said before adding, "You made a very good distraction."

"Yay! I helped with the crime-busting! This means I should get a reward!" Index exclaimed, feeling inexplicably giddy.

"Oi, Index, don't just go out asking for something like that," Kamijou chided his sister-like partner.

Saten stared at Index for a moment then looked at her friend. "Misaka, can we take out at Highlands first? And next time, go easy on sister-san…"

"What?! What do you mean next time?!" Kamijou didn't like the tone of Saten while at the same time, Index asked, "Next time? Does that mean me and Touma are also catching bad guys?"

* * *

"We should turn that footage over to the proper authorities immediately," Kamijou suggested when they reached a condominium that happened to be close with Saten's parents and as a result, they were let in. That had been the closest, and conveniently, there were no adults around them to fuss over Misaka, and Index.

It was obvious from just looking at them that they'd been in a fight—with Misaka, less so. Index had definitely come out worse for wear between the two of them. But now they were able to clean themselves up with a first aid kit as Saten booted up her parental friend's laptop.

"I'll give it to them soon," Saten didn't even looked up, "But I want first look at the footage. I found it, after all."

"Well, you technically you stole it," Kamijou reminded her. "You didn't find it."

"Does it matter, Touma," Index cheerfully butted in.

Misaka snorted at him, "Besides, I don't think you have any right to talk since you're a number one offender yourself. You would have done the same thing if you're in her shoes…"

"Hey, why does this lead to me being grilled?!"

Kamijou himself would want to help fight off criminals but certainly not in a way like this. Being a pacifist, he knew it was better to talk it out with the bad guys as he believed they were just on the wrong side of the circumstances.

"It is not the same difference! You are in the possession of information which might save someone's life!" Kamijou then argued, "You have a moral obligation to turn it over to the right authorities! I mean, we're not in Academy City so…"

"If I thought they could work fast enough, I would have done that a long time," Saten retorted back, "But unlike in Academy City, they have rules and red tape to go through about acquiring evidence and such. I don't."

She began to type furiously.

"You're the one who said that it's outside Academy City's scope," Saten smiled, "Then perhaps, we can ask for backup from Teshiba-san through Agent Yagami's coordination…"

"I'm going to say this now," Misaka interrupted, looking up from slapping on a few band aids. "This is not going to be a repeat of that crazy cab driver's case. You are not confronting any murders or kidnappers this time without any back-up. Do you understand, Saten?"

"Yes, Misaka."

"What do you mean this time?" Kamijou asked.

"That's not important right now," Saten waved it off. She was fast forwarding through the security footage.

"Go bug some Internet files if you want the full story," Misaka replied. She moved to join Saten in front of the laptop, watching over her shoulder. "Or at least, try to read a newspaper once a day."

"Oh, is that the thing I heard about from that news?" Index asked. "How this Saten Ruiko got herself abducted by that serial killer who was behind those so-called serial suicides?"

"Hah?! What?!" Kamijou looked petrified.

"Yeah, that's what happened," Misaka nodded, looking disgusted. "She nearly got herself killed."

"What?" Kamijou asked again, unable to believe his ears, or recognize the pounding sensation that had just started hammering in his chest.

"No I didn't," Saten shook her head.

"Yes you did."

"No. I keep telling you. The pill I had wasn't the poison."

"And I keep telling you, you don't know that!" Misaka roared very angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Kamijou looked lost. "What poison?"

"It's a long story, and retelling it constantly pisses me off," Misaka said, "In fact, it pissed off everyone from the Judgment building, especially Kuroko."

"Here," Saten said suddenly, pausing the video. The frame froze on an all-black Hummer vehicle, where two men were dragging a young woman dressed in a sexy leather jacket into it against her will. The license plate was visible, but not readable until Saten enlarged the picture. Then she pulled out her cell phone and made a call. "Sir Teshiba, it's me again, Saten Ruiko from the cabbie driver case. I'm calling to give an anonymous tip. Agent Yagami already knows this…"

"Do you know what anonymous means or not?" Kamijou wondered.

"She knows. That's her way of doing things with the police operatives." Misaka glared at him. "Besides, you should just shut up there and let her work…"

Kuroko finished reading off the license plate to Officer Teshiba before promising to anonymously email him the footage that she'd stolen from the ramen restaurant. Five minutes after hanging up, she appeared to have done that. Then she turned off the computer and stood up. "Let's go, Misaka-san. I also sent a message to Uiharu and Shirai-san. We'll have to start packing some things."

"And where are we going?" Misaka asked in slight mix-up, looking wary but standing and starting toward the door all the same. "And what do you mean we have to pack up?"

Saten looked surprised at Misaka's response. "To the docks of Shinmaru Shipping Yards at Hitachi City in Ibaraki Prefecture. We need to hurry if we want to get there and check for the records or the car used before Agent Teshiba responds to Agent Yagami and sends any officers over there by early dawn."

"Wait, I don't get it…" Index sounded confused as well. "What's going on?"

"Hey, Saten, can you explain?" Kamijou looked exasperated.

"The car that was used to abduct Agent Misora had a parking permit for the Midorin warehouses over near the docks of the Oarai Coast," Saten explained.

"Well…warehouses are a great place to keep someone tied up," Kamijou nodded. "I learned that from watching crime shows."

"It might not be so easy," Saten warned. "They might not be holding her there. But at the very least, we should be able to find out the kidnapper's name, or who that car is registered to. There will be some sort of record there."

"And we're taking these clowns with us?" Misaka asked, giving Index a particular dubious look, "Besides, do you know how far Ibaraki is from Academy City?! It would take at least three hours by train to get there!"

"Really? We can come? Really?" Index looked inexplicably delighted.

"I didn't say you could come!" Misaka yelled. "I was asking Saten…although the idiot could probably help us…"

Kamijou look at the Railgun with a horrified expression, "Misaka-san…"

#

"Why did they come with us again?" Misaka grouched. She glanced in front at Index, Kamijou and Othinus, who were sitting in front of them as Uiharu, Shirai, and surprisingly, Konori Mii, were all seated beside the two. It was currently two in the morning and Saten had just finished chewing her candy.

After information about Misora and the reported docks at Ibaraki has been sent, Uiharu and Shirai immediately went to meet with the rest of the group and Konori only went with them because of her claim that they shouldn't go out on such risky missions without the supervision of an adult.

"Oi, don't blame me. Blame this stupid Index for wanting to go on an adventure," Kamijou sighed as Index was sleeping by using his lap as her pillow, "Besides, I decided that since we got involved on it, we might as well go with the flow…"

"Because Kamijou-san worries about you more than he knows how to admit, Misaka-san. And because he has been very nosy on crime-related comics since the third grade," Saten replied.

"What the?! Did you stalk him or what?"

"He had a limited edition Inspector Gadget stuck on the wallet he brought along when we met them at Highlands Coffee," Saten explained. "You could only get that pin with the purchase of an Inspector Gadget comic book during the month of April, when you were in first grade."

"He could have bought it in an online shop," Misaka argued.

"If he had, he'd have gotten one in good condition, and he wouldn't have put it on a wallet. The one he had was scratched up horribly." Saten somehow managed to look disapproving without changing her expression at all. "Those should be collector's items, by now."

_Th-That's quite…I don't know… _Kamijou can't actually remember about that due to a certain incident but he decided to just keep silent about it.

"I guess we should learn to stop trying to prove you wrong," Shirai muttered.

"No. You don't have to. I like when you all talk to me, especially with your problems..."

"Hmmm. You don't have to say something so awkward," Konori chuckled, seeing Saten's three friends blush, "Feel free to talk with us whenever you like…"

"By the way, Shirai-san..."

"W-What?" Shirai suddenly asked nervously, trying to convince herself there was no way Saten Ruiko could have known she was thinking about committing armed assault right then.

"If Agent Misora is being held in the warehouse…"

"No," The teleporter said angrily, eyes flashing. "You're not going in there after her."

"If the police arrive in a menacing way, there will be a stand-off. Those don't work out as well in real life as what you see in movies, Shirai-san," Saten explained, "As much as I hate to say it, we can't use brute force against a possible phalanx of guards without a backlash. Agent Misora might end up getting killed."

"And what do you think happens to teenagers who sneak into the middle of those situations, Saten-san?" Uiharu demanded.

"Nothing, if they're not seen…"

"You're not sneaking in there by yourself, Saten, damn it!" Shirai stood her ground, "We're not in Academy City anymore so moving recklessly might cost you more than what happened back with that crazy cabbie driver!"

"Eh? What? What is she thinking of doing?" Kamijou asked, coming forward.

"Nothing." Misaka gritted her teeth, "We're not letting you. You understand us, Saten? You are not going to try to infiltrate the damned shipping warehouse on your own!"

"We'll see," Saten as finally, the train had reached its intended destination while Misaka and Shirai both proceeded to scream at her on how stupid an idea that was and how they would not allow it. Saten only shrug as they all alighted the train and quickly began to spring on foot under the starry gaze while they cover themselves against the cold wind. It wasn't long before they had reached the port of Shinmaru port and once they have come close to the proximity of the area, they suddenly hid behind a thick and tall wall of bushes as they saw a group of men suddenly walking back and forth and to the dismay of the group, these men were fully armed with Kalashnikov rifles and machine pistols.

"This isn't good," Konori bit her lip, "They're too many of them and attacking them recklessly could alert those inside the shipping yard. Uiharu, get an update from Officer Teshiba right now while I go check the insides of the warehouse with my Esper skill. Shirai and Misaka, stay close with me…"

"How awful. I think they're about a hundred men here or more. And this is just the gate," Kamijou grimaced, "What more about the guys inside. Such misfortune…"

"You ape. Don't go dragging us down," Shirai hissed as she stayed close with her sensei, "Besides, you and Saten should stay—huh, where's Saten?"

Blinking, they all turned to the area where Saten should be kneeling besides Kamijou and unfortunately, no one was there anymore.

_She just snuck off and into the warehouse on her own, didn't she?!_

* * *

Saten knew that it hadn't been easy for Kamijou, whom the others charge him in guarding her, to let her go. But to her luck, Kamijou Touma had seen the validity of her arguments. If this turned into a standoff with the police then Agent Misora was likely to die. Being the one who's skillful in improvising, Saten had the best chance of getting in there undetected, and getting Misora Naomi out. So Saten was grateful to Kamijou for distracting Misaka, Shirai and Uiharu long enough for her to slip away.

And that this time the distraction hadn't involved bruises and bumps.

There was a drain pipe at one corner of the warehouse that Saten was able to climb to get access to the roof. She sent up a silent thank you for all the physical drills that Yomikawa had put them through when they had a special workout for those involved in the Level Upper fiasco.

There was a porthole on the roof that gave Saten a chance to check and see what was happening inside the warehouse. He approached the pane carefully, mindful of her dark shadow, and made sure that when she peeked over the edge that her shadow wouldn't fall inside the window and onto the floor below, giving her presence away. Saten mostly saw what she was expecting to see when she peeked in. A woman tied to a chair and her mouth stuffed with a handkerchief. And five men who looked like thugs. They weren't torturing her, to her relief. Saten had no idea how she'd have dealt with the situation if they were. It looked like they were waiting for someone or something. The five men all had firearms. High-powered assault rifles which only the police and the JSDF can legally use in an official capacity.

This was going to be dangerous but Saten had already known that.

She studied the layout of the room. It looked like she could get in through the vent shaft that came down from the roof, but getting out that way would be impossible. It was a ten-foot free fall. If Saten slid out and hung by her fingertips before dropping, she knew she could avoid any major injury but there was no way she could get back up to it to drag out Agent Misora. The only other way out was through the warehouse doors or through Shirai's teleportation.

And to her misfortune, Shirai Kuroko would be more likely needed for possible combat, judging by the number of men guarding the hidden gates.

Saten took a moment to formulate a plan, assessing what she could do and what she couldn't do in this perilous situation. She could get to Agent Misora without being seen, provided that the men won't hear her footsteps since they were surprisingly not paying attention enough as they are busy marching back and forth and they were speaking loudly. She could even get her freed, thanks to the fact that she'd brought a kitchen knife, foreseeing that he might have to cut through binds or tapes.

Obviously, she could not get Agent Misora to the warehouse door unseen without the risk of a gunfight. Nor could she get the doors open without anyone noticing, since they were huge, iron doors that were probably noisy to open, and would let in a lot more light. And Agent Misora, despite having a slender body frame, didn't look like she could fit through the small vent like Saten could. So even though she could boost her to it, she wouldn't be able to get out that way. And honestly, Saten didn't think she could make it that far without being seen by one of the thugs.

So what now?

_Think, Saten, Think! I can't just sit back and do nothing right now. I have to find a way to help her!_

Suddenly, something flickered in her mind. Perhaps, she didn't need to get her out unseen. Maybe it wasn't necessary for her to do it. Saten only had to get her out without the ruffians stopping her by shooting her or overpowering her. The easiest way to ensure that didn't happen would be to take their weapons. _And Agent Misora would know how to shoot, wouldn't she?_ She remembered that the slim woman was an FBI agent. Saten had seen plenty of TV programs about FBI agents. They all shoot guns like they had unlimited supply of ammo.

And even on the off-chance that Misora didn't know how to shoot, these men probably didn't know that. Or if they did, they probably still wouldn't risk charging her if she held a firearm in each hand. That seemed like a good way to get themselves killed.

So, all Saten had to do was sneak into the warehouse through the outlet, lift the high-caliber guns off the five thugs' persons without getting caught, and set Agent Misora free. That was a surprisingly simple plan when it came down to it. Compared to what she was trying to do on trying to achieve a higher Esper level, this was positively a walk in a park—at least, in her own opinion.

* * *

The operation went so smoothly that Saten felt a little bit swindled. On crime shows, things never went just the way they were planned. She knew that was to make the plots more interesting, but it was still a little bit of a letdown that all the adrenaline she built up while putting her plan into action only had to be channeled into exactly what it was supposed to.

Just a few minutes ago, Saten pried the cover off the ventilation shaft on the roof then slipped inside. She proceeded slowly to keep from making any unexpected noises, or to make a wrong move that would send her falling twenty feet vertically. She reached the opening into the warehouse, which didn't even have a grating covering it. She waited until all five men were facing a different direction, and one of them started talking. Then she slid most of her body out of the vent, holding on with just one hand. She let his body drop down, still holding on, then released with her fingertips. When her feet hit the floor, she bent her knees to land as softly as possible, going into a crouch.

None of the men even looked her way.

"When's L supposed to get here again?" One of the men asked with a tone of annoyance.

"He'll get here when he gets here. He's a busy guy. You should know this by now." Was another hooligan's answer.

Saten sent a quick glance at Agent Misora, who was watching the men intently, with hate in her eyes. Whoever this L guy was, he certainly wasn't someone she would look forward to have drinks with.

The hard part of the plan came next—stashing away the guns. Saten realized that the men have left their assault rifles in a table not far from where Agent Misora was kept but she had to wait until the men were out of their sights. She deduced that she needed to grab them away in one motion despite the fact they might be too heavy for her soft hands to carry. She gulped.

She would need more than guts and wits to pull this one out.

But it was just a simple task.

Seeing that the five men had been out of their sights as they let their guard down for the moment to have some rounds of coffee, Saten put her plan to motion. Sprinting like her feet wasn't touching the cold floor, she felt that taking away their rifles was very easy. It was almost insulting how she could walk right up their own base and take their weapons without them ever even realizing she just penetrated their secret storage house. A naughty little part of Saten was glad that they'd be paying for that insult. And she got a rather nice surprise when she turned her attention to Agent Misora. She saw that she was looking right at her.

She didn't seem to know what to think about him and Saten understands that. It wasn't every day a kidnap victim saw a middle school kid appear in the middle of the warehouse where they were being held and start stealing weapons from her captors. Saten could see the slender woman studying her, trying to figure out what she was up to and what her motives were. She put a finger over her lip, hoping that she would realize she was on her side and not give her away.

She then hurried over to her.

"I'm here to help you get out," Saten whispered into her ear as she loosens up the handkerchief that's cleaved in her mouth. "But sneaking out's impossible in this situation. You're going to have to threaten these men with these guns to keep them out of our way, so we can get to the door."

Misora gave the slightest of nods as Saten then knelt behind her and started cutting through the ropes binding her to the chair. A minute later, she was free. But, displaying an excellent mind for strategy and intelligence, Misora stayed seated until Saten brought the guns in and placed two of them in each of her hands.

"But…they're quite long for your size, Misora-san…"

"Don't worry about me, I'm trained for this," Misora whispered back, "Stay behind me kid and stay close."

"I will…" Saten replied as out of reflex, she grabbed one of the guns herself.

"Keep that other gun in your hands. Even if you can't shoot, the sight of it will keep them back and away from you."

"R-Right," Saten somberly agreed although personally, she felt like it was better just to hide the gun behind her. It would be much better to surprise the thugs. She estimated that a chance of the two of them being able to get out thru the doors was only two percent. But, carrying a weapon in the open only raised that figure to 4.5 percent. No, only 3.50 percent as Saten adjusted her estimate to take into account how beautiful and badass Agent Misora Naomi looked with a gun in each hand.

The brighter the hero, the darker the sidekick. The same principal applied now as did on her partnership with Uiharu but at this hour, she's the one playing second fiddle. Next to a beautiful, deadly FBI agent in a leather jacket, Saten would be her usual cheery but cunning self, whether she was carrying a weapon or not.

Then Agent Misora stood up.

And deviated from Saten's on-the-spot plan.

"On your knees! All of you!" she barked, and fired off a round from the gun in her right hand. The bullet hit right between the ugliest one's feet and made him jump.

The five hooligans who just came back from their dilly-dallying stared at her in shock and tried to go for their guns, only to find their guns weren't there.

"I said on your knees! And put your hands on your heads! Now!"

One of the crooks was dumb enough to run. Misora fired off another round and he fell to the ground, then started screaming and clutching his leg, rolling over. Saten was amazed at the accuracy of her firing.

"Anyone else want to run?" Misora asked in an almost friendly voice.

The four remaining uninjured thugs decided that no—they did not want to run and they won't risk in getting shot like that. They got down on the ground, hands behind their heads as Misora instructed.

"You, black shirt. Take your cell phone out of your jacket pocket and put it on the ground. Slowly. You make a sudden movement and your chest would end up having polka dots. Understand?"

"Y-Yes," he said, and did as she instructed.

"Now, slide it to me," Misora said when the phone was on the floor.

The thug slid the phone across the floor to her. It came to a stop right beside her feet.

"You girl, call the police at once."

"The police are already on their way, Agent Misora," Saten replied but she retrieved the phone nonetheless. As though on cue, a flock of sirens started ringing in the distance. Saten was pleased to hear cried of men being loud as sounds of what looks like electricity exploding in the air came next. She realized it must have been Misaka's doing. "Also, I have some friends waiting outside. Is it alright if I open the door, so that they'll know I'm alright, and so the police don't waste time setting up a perimeter when they get here?"

Misora's eyes narrowed at her, "That's fine. But…who are you?"

"Just some ordinary girl. Not much important," Saten said and she started motioning towards the door.

"You saved my life. Forgive me if I'm inclined to disagree," Misora said.

"Uhm…I'm Saten Ruiko from Sakugawa Middle School in Academy City. I hope we get along well."

_Saten Ruiko? Your name sounds familiar. I think I heard it from Carmelo. _Misora thought as she laughed softly. "I don't think that will be a problem."

"I don't think so either," Saten winked and she gave her a small smile, because this was a victory for them. The kidnapped woman was free and safe. The bad guys were in custody. One of them was bleeding but not in critical condition and no one died.

"You're too young to be a police officer. So what are you doing here? And how did you find me?" Misora asked that question that Saten hopes to avoid.

"Well…I found your purse in the alley where they abducted you," Saten explained, knowing that the full story would have to be told soon, but deciding it could wait. The police were getting closer. And Misaka, Uiharu, Shirai, Kamijou, Index, and Konori were probably all worried out of their minds because of those gunshots. Saten quickly walked over to the door and was about to push the doors herself when suddenly, someone appeared behind the two of them.

"Uwaaah! Saten-san!"

"Eh? Shirai-san?"

* * *

"Amazing…" Was the only thing Agent Misora Naomie can say as Saten finished fully recounting the events that took place in the alley, where she'd realized the FBI detective had been kidnapped. "Agent Yagami, Officer Teshiba, you've found an amazing young apprentice."

"She came to me this amazing," Yagami sounded proud, setting down a cup of black coffee in front of Misora, and a cup of coffee completely loaded with sweetened vanilla creamer in front of Kuroko. "I can't take credit for her sharp extra sensory and deductive skills."

They were in a conference room back at the police station, debriefing. Misaka and the others, who were finished lecturing Saten about running away, can only smile awkwardly as they were all seated on the table. She had warned them that it was likely to be a full hour or more before she was finished here but apparently, they don't care. Saten knew perfectly well that even if this took until 6:00 am the next morning, and she'd still walk out and find them waiting for her. By this time, Konori had already notified Yomikawa about their situation. She, in turn, would have called all the others responsible for their well-being, especially the Dorm Head of Misaka and Shirai. That thought warmed Saten, even though she felt a bad about disobeying them about sneaking alone and worrying them.

"Yeah, she can be so amazing that she sometimes forgets rules," Shirai sarcastically commented as she drinks her cup of coffee, "Saten, you're making those sneaking adventures an SOP. Next time, try to rely on us for once."

"Well…she was the one who managed to find out about Agent Misora's abduction," Uiharu grimaced, "If it was me, I would have completely disregarded that alley…"

"Well, it seems that your friend is quite a gifted one," Teshiba can only compliment the hero of the day.

"Sir Teshiba is being modest," Saten replied, "Actually, Agent Yagami has taught me many things since we first met."

Yagami can only laugh. And he didn't say it because they were on record and their conversation was being recorded, but his expression clearly said it._ You mean like how to Spy stealthily and bend rules?_

"He also listens to me," Saten adds. "And believes me, even if I come to him with something that sounds bizarre that even my friends would think I'm insane."

"W-Well, in my defense, I just thought you were bluffing too much," Kamijou had to admit that he did think of Saten as a crazy one when she first mentioned about the possibility of a kidnapping in the seemingly peaceful alley.

She remembered clearly what it was like not to be listened to, or to be shut down when she said something that went against the flow. It was nice now to have found people who would listen to what she had to say and not just write her words off as insignificant. And it was even nicer to see the results of what came of speaking up.

Lives saved. Bad guys jailed. Children back with their parents.

"For my part of this debriefing, I'll have to backtrack a bit," Misora suddenly interrupter Saten's train of thoughts, sipping her coffee. "I'll try to be brief. I don't want to keep Saten-san or any of her friends here too late."

"Please don't worry about that," Saten waved it off. Even though she felt a little bad about the people waiting for her, she needed to understand the full story. "It's still technically Christmas Break. And I often stay up late."

Misora gave her a nod that was a little bit indulgent, but somehow not condescending. "I came to Japan as part of Task Force Hunter Wolf, a team assigned in tracking the operations of an international criminal syndicate, believed by many just to be a myth. We, however, believe that he exists, or at least that someone has begun using his alias for their own operations."

"And this man's name is…?" Misaka was curious.

"He just goes by one name. One letter, actually," Misora herself felt a bit helpless, "He calls himself L but other documents and testimonies by small fishes that we captured tells us that he also goes by the name M to confuse authorities."

"L, you say?" Yagami mused.

"Yes. They say he's young and a ruthless genius. And completely psychotic, though I don't buy that last one," Misora shook her head, "Sociopathic perhaps would be the better term. Even a little mad. More than a little, I suppose. But there's a method to his madness."

Despite her background, Saten wasn't the type of person who would just believe in premonitions without any credible bases. Instinct and intuition, she believes on those two. Both were cousins to her own logical abilities, using information gathered from the environment or precedent to predict the future. But outside of Esper abilities, she didn't believe in supernatural abilities or any sort of paranormal way of predicting the future.

All the same, a chill swept down her spine as she heard the description of the man who called himself L. And even though she had no evidence to back it up, no information gleaned from any source reputable or otherwise, Saten just knew that her path was going to cross with L's. And that she was going to be in trouble.

"Misora-san, with due respect, would it be fine if I get your number?" Saten suddenly asked, "I have a feeling that sooner or later, I would fine myself up against this L person."

"Saten-san/Saten/Ruiko/Saten!" Everyone of her friends screamed in bloody horror.

"S-Saten…I don't think that's a good idea…" Konori stuttered.

Misora seemed to have a different idea as she stopped drinking her caffeine and thought about it. After a minute, she then pulled out what looked like a calling card, "Since you've saved my life thanks to your rare ability that puts even Carmelo and Kira to shame, then I guess you would be a perfect asset for me. Call me when you sensed something strange or better, I call you if I there's an irregular pattern that only you can solve. After all, I would like to see how this protégé of Yagami could hold up against international criminal groups."

Shirai can only look at the two in horror as Saten gives her number, "Uhm…please don't tell this to Yomikawa though," Yagami nervously chuckled, "I don't think she would approve of this kind of international spying mission."

Saten shuddered at that. Yes, they needed to keep off Yomikawa on this one, this time. _Thanks my friends. _


End file.
